Slatwork Facade Provides Visual Interest & Privacy Shade

In renovating an historic bungalow home, the clients and their architect wanted to set apart old from new and also needed to provide some kind of a screen for the master bedroom – this clever solution tackles both problems while adding some personality in the process.

Though they may look decorative, these slanted wooden beams introduced by designers Rios Clementi Hale Studios (images by Undine Pröhl) are actually structural as well, stabilizing the mostly-glass volume they surround.

In the context of the rest of the house, the underlying volume fits into the building while the raw-wood components also set it apart, making it feel like a kind of tree house retreat attached to a more conventional home.

Outside, the slats taper as the facade treatment wraps toward the upper deck and interior faces of the house. Inside, the slats provide shade and a sense of separation, but also create dynamic and shifting shadows and tie into the plywood used throughout the interior of the home.